Chennai: The total COVID-19 cases in Tamilnadu breached the 9,000 mark on Wednesday with three more deaths and a little over 500 people testing positive, the state government said.
Among the new cases were a one-year old baby and some who arrived from foreign countries by special air services as part of the “Vande Bharat” mission to bring back stranded Indians. The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 64 while the tally of positive cases stood at 9,227, a health department bulletin said.
The state capital continued to account for a lion’s share of the cases with 380 people turning Covid-19 positive. Five people who returned from foreign countries reported positive for the deadly virus, but the bulletin did not share details of their country of origin or when they arrived.
Around 21 districts in the state reported no fresh cases on Wednesday while 2,176 people have been discharged, the bulletin said. A total of 12,780 samples were tested in 56 labs. All the three dead were from the city and below the age of 50. A 41-year-old person suffering from diabetes passed away due to ”respiratory failure” while a 43-year-old died due to pneumonia/respiratory failure, the bulletin said.
The third person, aged 48, was suffering from systematic hypertension and breathed his last due to ”bilateral pneumonia/respiratory failure”, it said. Chengalpattu and Thiruvallur districts, adjoining Chennai, recorded 25 cases each on Wednesday. Chennai leads the virus chart with a tally of 5,262 cases followed by Thiruvallur at 492 cases, Chengalpattu (416) and Cuddalore with 413 patients, the bulletin added.